Marvel's Agents of Shield: "God Will Not Forgive You."

Found an old post that never got published...

The TV series Firefly was an immediate cult classic and it is out of a sense of duty and bitter sweet nostalgia that I made a concerted effort to give the current Joss Whedon series "Marvel's Agents of Shield" a solid backing. Last night's was episode 9: "Repairs," and the characters had some very interesting viewpoints on God, too interesting for me not to write about them.

If you've never seen Agent's of Shield or if you are unfamiliar with the Marvel universe then here's the backdrop setting in a nutshell. Superheroes like Spiderman, Ironman, The Hulk, Captain America, and a litany of other characters of varying degrees of power are real. The government has put together a program called S.H.I.E.L.D. to deal with the superheroes / villains in the background, identifying new threats, cleaning up after the heroes and villains break stuff during their fights, locking away artifacts and technology is too dangerous or alien in nature, and keeping society from panicking by covering as much of this up as they can. The series "Agents of Shield" follows a group of agents and their missions / character story arcs in what is truly a cross between CSI, the Avengers, and Mission Impossible.

In this episode S.H.I.E.L.D. has identified some very strange happenings occurring around a young woman (Hannah Hutchins) in a small church town. When she feels threatened or scared things start to fly off the shelf, shelves start toppling onto people, and vehicles start up all by themselves and try to ram whatever (or whoever) is making her feel threatened. Case and point the agents believe that she has somehow acquired telekinetic mind powers that she does not understand and cannot control. The fact that these powers only started manifesting themselves after the woman in question was part of an accident that blew up an experimental generator provides enough circumstantial evidence to bring her in for further investigation.

Here's where the theology gets interesting.

Hannah - Faith Without Understanding

Hannah is a Christian. She attends church, helps run youth group, volunteers at soup kitchens etc. She is a churchy person who is kind and caring and she believes that God is punishing her for her sins. She was the safety inspector at the reactor that blew up and the resulting blast killed four of her co-workers, a devastating accident that has rocked the tiny community. She believes that these happenings aren't the manifestation of mind powers but of demons sent to torment her because God no longer protects her. Hannah is an example of someone with faith but without understanding.

Her perspective is based on her faith and the author of the episode makes sure we know it. She believes in God. She does not understand God though nor does she understand what is happening to her. As agent May points out, "people believe what they need to to make sense of what they experience." This is a sad and foolish type of faith that is based in personal experience alone. She is experiencing guilt and frightening things therefore God must be doing it which means he is punishing her. This is of course contrary to the revelation of the God of Christianity who freely forgives out of love, going so far as to take the penalty for sin upon himself so that he may forgive sinners because he wants to. But Hannah doesn't know this, she understands God as a generic god, the explanation for things you don't understand, not the living God revealed in Jesus and the Scriptures. She is well meaning but simply doesn't understand what is going on.

Sky - Unbelief Without Understanding

Sky is an agnostic. She has a long and complicated past full of hurt, distrust, and trying to help people by doing what's right in the world. There are a lot of things she doesn't understand about herself and a lot of things she does understand about others. She has a natural empathy and a caring personality and so she understands that Hannah is going through a lot right now, having been part of a horrible accident, having strange and sometimes violent things happen around her, being confronted, sedated, and abducted by men in black suits and waking up in a strange place. Sky wants to help her, give her hope that things will be ok and she's going to use the type of language that Hannah best understands; the language of faith.

The problem is that Sky doesn't believe in God and most definitely does not understand him. She does however believe that God is not punishing Hannah for her sins because one thing stuck with her when she went to Sunday School, that God is Love. She says that if she had to choose what to believe about God she would choose that. Oddly enough the unbelieving character has more theological grounding than the believing one. Perhaps even stranger is that they both fall into the same problem of understanding God based on personal experience alone. So Hannah has her own God of judgment and Sky has her own God of love. Taking this stance a bit further we can say that Paul had his own God and Jesus had his own God and Moses had his own God and all of these are projections of the mind based on personal experience, none of them are any more or less valid than any others and all anyone can ever hope to know about God is a personal perspective. It refuses to acknowledge the fact that God makes himself known as a person, the same person regardless of perspective. It also refuses to acknowledge the fact that we can know God through the written testimony of Scripture, the spoken testimony of others, and the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit. But this is only a TV show that is briefly touching on theological issues as a means to tell an interesting story so I suppose I can't be too upset.

Agent May - Unbelief with Understanding

Agent May is a little more complicated. She understands a lot of things about herself and others. She understands the risk of Hannah having telekinetic powers that she cannot control. She understands that Hannah, like so many others, only believe things to make sense of their experiences and that we often skew our perceptions. She knows what it's like to deal with guilt and work through trauma. There are two possible ways we could interpret her understanding of God, either that he doesn't exist or that he doesn't care ("God will not Forgive you.") Either way, her method of coping and her advice to others isn't to draw near to God but to live as though God doesn't exist; taking responsibility for your actions, realizing that you will have to live with the consequences, and growing up and moving on. A bleak piece of 'pull yourself up by your boot straps' theology. Her's is a matured 'realism' that is faithless and seeks to give a person trapped in guilt a solid kick in the pants to get them moving again. I'm sure that many a viewer in this postmodern age will find hers the most attractive. Once again though, this template of faith does not comprehend the revelation of God found in Christ or the Scriptures. She also believes what she must in order to make sense of things.






For myself I am just intrigued at how public television portrays Christianity. In this episode we have the Christian with a shallow and foolish faith, the agnostic who subscribes to 'pick your own religion', and the cynic who chooses her faith based on what gets the job done. Each of which is unhealthy but in different ways. I don't watch a lot of television but I think most would be hard pressed to find a character who is a Christian with good theology and lives an authentic life of discipleship and love.

As far as character building and storytelling is concerned it definitely adds depth to each character. Hannah's simplicity and lack of understanding is central to her character. Sky's aversion to systems and organizations translates makes her loose theology and non-church attendance a natural outworking. May's PTSD and hardened focus on 'the job' makes her stark utilitarian faith also make sense. As always I am impressed by Joss Whedon's knack for building interesting characters with depth.

Contemplations

Sitting at work, putting words from one page onto another, listening to music on my headset... I wonder if I am an adequate leader for my household. Am I strong enough to stand against the darkness of my own heart? When I am tired will I have the endurance to continue on, giving my best to my wife, my son, my work, my friends? Can I see far enough and clear enough to discern what pitfalls we might fall into and avoid them? When we fall into them will I have the grace and wisdom to see us out again? Will I have the grace to see through the darkness of others and love them through pain and disappointments? The future is hidden from me and look at what I can see. Can I provide for them? Can I overcome myself for them? Will the winds of time and circumstance be kind to us?

Yes. In Christ all things are possible. He has been faithful to me, to my family, to all his people from the beginning of time. And so it is in the Christ that I will entrust them all, even myself.

Emotional quandary solved.
Back to work.

Come to the River - A Short Story

I see a man off in the distance and I am concerned for him. His clothes are in tatters, his face is dirty, and he always looks so tired and hungry. I call out to him and he smiles at my approach.

“It is good to see you again,” he says. “How are you doing?”

“I am well,” I reply, “and how are you today?”

“I’m alive,” he says faintly and I notice his eyes focus into the distance for a moment. I can feel the pain in him. Despair.

“Will you walk with me?” I ask him.

“Certainly. It is lonely in the wilderness.”

I nod in agreement. I don’t think he can perceive my sadness although I do not hide it from him. He doesn’t ask where we are going and I think that maybe this time he will drink from the river. Maybe this time he will agree to join with us as we gather around the streams of life.

When he sees where we are going he doesn’t protest. We stand looking over the river amidst the lush green and the trees that are nourished by the clear running water. He squints, not understanding what he is looking at. The side of his lip curls up and he shakes his head slowly.

“You should come with me out to the wilderness,” he says to me.

“I do,” I reply, “and we haven’t found anywhere worth living in that desert.”

“I get lonely when you’re away,” he says quietly.

I put my hands on his shoulders and look into his gaunt and shallow eyes. “Then come and stay with me,” I say, a tear welling up in my own eye. “Do not go out into the wilderness anymore. Spend time by the river, drink the pure water and let it wash you. Join with us and you will not be lonely. You can still go out into the desert but make your home here and be filled with good things.”

He looks at me, eyes unstaring.

“Is it so hard to see?” I ask pointing at river, the village, and the city in the distance. “Come to the river, be filled, thirst no more, learn to be clean, clothe yourself in new clothes, eat with us, laugh with us, we love you!”

“What is wrong with my clothes?” he asks suspiciously.

“They are in tatters friend!”

He huffs at me and eyes up my own garments, recently washed and still quite new.

“It’s not like that,” I say. “You go out into the wilderness in rags. Do they protect you from the heat of the sun or the cold of the night? Do they shelter you in a storm? I am concerned for your well-being.”

“The river is for soft people,” he said at last. “None of you know what it is like out in the world. None of you know how to survive in the heat or the cold. The river makes you soft.”

I looked at him in disbelief. Malnourished, limping, and hunched over; even the least of the river dwellers could stand the wastes better than him. But he did not understand this.

He turned to leave.

“Wait,” I say as I take off my coat. “Take this,” and I wrap it around his shoulders.

A look of pain and surprise came over him and then a grateful smile and tears. “Thank you,” he choked. “It is so cold in the wilderness at night. You have always been such a good friend to me.” And with that he turned and stumbled away from the river, thirsty, hungry, dirty, limping, and wretched to go back to living among the hyenas and buzzards; and I wept for him.

Knowing too much and Knowing how much I don't know...

I am at a strange spot in my life. I have a rigorous four year BA under my belt with a few extra courses just for fun and a nearly completed Master's degree. To my family and most friends this sounds like quite the achievement and they are proud of me, thinking I know oh so much. To my professors and many of my peers I am just a Masters' student, not that that is a bad thing, but it's common and not all that impressive. Now let me say this straight from the beginning, I am not looking to impress people; not by being smarter than anyone or measuring up anywhere on the academic scale. The issue I am facing right now is knowing enough to know that I don't know nearly as much as I thought I knew.

I thought that I had already come to this spot and just accepted it. There is a certain humility that most college students learn in there senior years, that they are just little students and that whatever grandiose ideas and firm foundations of knowledge they had are often little more than puffs of air. Briercrest is especially good at teaching these lessons because of the academic rigor, honesty, and pastoral care of each of the professors. Apparently the lesson gets re-taught at the Masters' level too but for me it wasn't so much my classes that did it this time as it was simply living every day life.


I was home for Thanksgiving enjoying some fantastic family time when my grandmother puts her hands just above my son's head (oh yeah, I have a son now just in case you read this blog and don't know my personally) and said that she was transferring energy to him. I asked where she had learned to transfer energy and she said that a woman did it to her not long ago and that it got rid of her headache. I explained that what she was doing was called Reiki and how channeling life force was important to some religions. She asked if it was dangerous. I thought about it and decided that it wasn't in this instance. She laughed at me and said that I knew too much. I agreed. I know enough to make things more complicated than they should be and I know enough to be dangerous.

What does it mean to know enough to be dangerous? It means that you know enough to make your own 'informed decisions' and can explain the reasoning behind them to convince people know know less than you that you are right, but you don't know enough to realize that you're quite wrong and unintentionally leading others astray.


On the other hand sometimes I feel like I barely know anything at all. This experience of a new marriage and a new child and new social setting has had me in a constant state of not understanding. Often times I do not understand how my wife works or how I should work in relation to her. (I think this is normal?) I do not know what the future holds for us, even less so now that she is unable to finish her degree here at Briercrest. After a long hard year of bad health and raging pregnancy hormones I am still unsure how or why the landscape changed now that the dust is settling. Life time friendships, gone; relationship with Briercrest, marred; peers, distant; family, here but I am unable to relate to them; my wife, lonely; and I am unable to fix any of them. And I tried in every way I knew how, I advocated, I mediated, I listened to all parties, I prayed, I took action, and at the end of the day I am exhausted and can barely wrap my mind around what happened. And then there are the larger issues in the world that I simply can not see far enough, do not understand and have no answer to; Russia's 'propaganda laws' and the suffering of real people, Western ideologies as neo-colonialism, Japan's nuclear waste pouring into the ocean, Canada's First Nations issues, the crisis in Syria, and Miley Cyrus just to name a few.


I used to think that maybe theology would have all the answers, that magical mixture of the very best humanity had to offer and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Instead I find myself not relying on theology for answers but, as always, upon God through faith. This is not to say that theology has been a wasted pursuit, far from it! The love of God and the love of wisdom are the most excellent pursuits in the world and the foundation for all other good pursuits. True theology brings us to the point of faith though, and in this instance it was through knowing too much and knowing that I know too little.

A Critique of "Dark Dungeons"

I was floating around the internet recently and found the original 'Chick Tract' against Dungeons and Dragons entitled "Dark Dungeons." Published by 'Chick Publications' in 1984 this tract was created to spread the word of the evils of D&D and that faith in Jesus will set you free from the resulting demonic hold on your life. I'm not sure that a critique is even necessary, the tract speaks for itself.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.ASP

Everything about this tract is exaggerated and off the mark to the point where it should be a satire of the hyper conservative roots that spawned it but it's not; it was created and published and is still upheld with the utmost seriousness and reverence.

Fallacy #1: D&D is a cover for training young people in the arts of witchcraft

"The intense occult training through D&D prepared Debbie to accept the invitation to enter a witch's coven."

All of the D&D books ever created are available online for you or me or anyone to download and look at. While the publishers of Chick and Straight Talk have maintained that D&D manuals are actually satanic training texts empirical evidence stands against them. Countless individuals have read these manuals searching for the incriminating evidence and have found nothing but game stats. In today's Postmodern age where alternative spirituality is openly encouraged you would think that the game's 'true occult nature' would finally come out of hiding now that it is popular and has no need to hide from society. The reality of the matter is that D&D has never had anything to do with secretly training anyone in anything at all even vaguely related to witchcraft.

Fallacy #2: Young people are incredibly stupid and incredibly vulnerable

There is a prevailing assumption that young people will simply become or follow whatever is presented to them. Debbie is either knowingly playing 'train to be a witch' with coven members or all of the people around the table just passively accept that their game leader is heavily into the witchcraft and now Debbie will be too. The facial expressions are also deliberate and telling, Debbie's sneer when she is happily recounting being able to cast a real spell communicates that she has officially flipped the switch and has become evil. Debbie's prayer that she wants "Jesus to be in charge of everything, not that lousy DnD manual," shows what level of control the author thinks this game can have on a person. Now I'll be the first to admit frustration at how foolish and short sighted teenagers can be, but come on! Kids aren't brainless morons or empty cups that anyone can just pour information / habits / worldviews into, becoming whatever happens to be in front them at the time. Even the really stupid kids who make poor decisions don't live their life according to a DnD game manual.

Fallacy #3: Character Death puts players at risk of Suicide

Marcie's obsession with her character to the point of suicide is the embodiment of a common fear in that era of hyper conservative thought. It stems from the suicide of Irving Pulling who's mother, Patricia, claimed was on account of playing Dungeons and Dragons. Formal investigation into the suicide could not find any link between the game and the unfortunate death, but Mrs. Pulling publicized that DnD had killed her son and conservative Christianity, sensing a demonic threat, adopted the story as truth. Even Mr. Whitaker in Adventures in Odessey made a point of needing to confront some young people who were playing the game 'Castles and Cauldrons' and decided to secretly steal and burn the material because it put young folk at risk.

Once again though empirical evidence is against this claim. Young People don't just 'become' their character unless they are mentally unstable to begin with. If a young person's life is so desperate that they can't separate fiction from reality then what the heck are their parents doing?

Questionable Theology

I find the idea that God gives us the power and authority to 'bind demonic forces' questionable and possibly problematic. The image that this invokes is that God 'gives power' independent of his presence. I think the Scriptures point more to a sacramental type of interaction where the Holy Spirit works through the believer and the believer aligns him or her self with the Holy Spirit to participate in the work that God is already doing. Instead of me binding the demonic forces, God is doing it and I simply participate by becoming the avenue of his will. The difference might seem subtle, but I think it is important. I also don't understand the language of 'binding'. Scripturally the language of 'binding the devil' occurs only once in Revelation 20:2 and it is speaking of an eschatological future, not something that Christians will do. I think this language leads to an over-realized spirituality that trends toward seeing demons where none exist and doing spiritual warfare where God never intended it to be done.

The scene where Debbie burns all of her DnD material is also problematic to me. I understand the importance of ridding yourself of spiritual bondage and distractions. This is a very consistent theme throughout all of Scripture. The problem I have is that the pastor standing in front of the massive bonfire and the guy behind it with his arms outstretched looks creepy, like occult type creepy. I understand that the bonfire was kind of like a spiritual symbol in this brand of North American Christianity but today that picture just creeps me out.

The Kernel of Truth

For as much as I disagree with and shake my head at how this tract was put together I must also confess the kernel of truth that it is attempting to communicate. The Word of God commands us not to participate in the occult or to use magic but to rely on Yahweh for all that we need. The demonic references in the tract are real and their effects in the lives of people can be equally as fatal as displayed there. The pastor's words are true, that only Jesus can set us free from the dark dungeon of demonic hold on a life. While such cases of this might seem uncommon in the peaceful world of middle class North America it still happens even here. That is the only redeeming quality I can think of.


Conclusion

This was an unnecessary fear mongering smear tract borne out of fear and ignorance to spread fear and ignorance. For the maybe 0.05% of the gaming community that took the fantasy game too far this tract might have a relevant message. For the other 99.95% though it's simply a false witness to Christ and his kingdom. God gave us imaginations and the freedom to use them and the attempt made by this Christian movement to suppress and control that freedom is misguided at best.

We need more than "Only Jesus"

The other day I was conversing with my wife and she told me about a Christian speaker who was called out as a false prophet because he suggested that some Christians need to deal with their issues by going to counseling. The fellow who called him out did so on the basis that "all we need is Jesus".

I used to often think this way growing up. "I don't need that, I only need Jesus. I can get on without those people, all I need is Jesus." And you know what, in many contexts this is true. Who will ultimately fix our problems in the end? Jesus. Who is providing us with everything we need? Jesus. Who can do the impossible for us? Jesus. But at what point does this line of thinking become absurd?

What is the proper relationship between our needs and Jesus? Clearly if we have needs God provides for them through Jesus. When the ancient Israelites were in the desert God provided mana and quail for them to eat and when the prophets had to flee because of persecution God sent ravens to bring them food or an angel, or a widow who God also provided for. Jesus said, "ask it will be given, knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you will find." However, every one of these people had to actually take the food that was provided, put it in the mouths, chew it, and swallow it. The prophets had to leg it, often, so as to make sure their head did not garnish a spike in the king's palace. And we as Christians today don't rely on God so strongly that we refuse to eat because "all we need is Jesus." The relationship between our needs and Jesus is not like an umbilical cord where we do nothing and God providentially fixes absolutely everything, providing literal nourishment to those who refuse to feed themselves.

But I need to make an immediate qualification. God can do this and has done this for various people. I think specifically of Jesus' fast for forty days or the Chinese pastor 'Brother Yung' or other Christians who have suffered incredible situations. There are times and places where God's providence does mean providing literal nourishment to people who could not eat or drink. But this is the exception, not the rule, at least in physical nourishment.

In the normal day to day life, Christians need to feed themselves because that's how God designed us. God provides the food. We eat the food. The food does what the food was meant to do. Jesus is not an automatic replacement for eating and drinking.

The same goes for community. Christians need community, we need other people, we need the Body of Christ because we are part of the Body of Christ and each part needs the other parts else we suffer and fail in our tasks. Jesus is not a substitute for other people. He created us to work together, he created us as social communal beings who need fellowship and friendship. Yes, God provides these things but always to share with others. Just as every person has need to eat and drink so too every person has need of community. I believe that Jesus specifically does not nourish us to the point where we do not have to eat because eating is good and he wants us to eat. I also believe that Jesus specifically does not meet our needs for community to the point where we have no community because fellowship is good and he wants us to live in community.

So Jesus could provide for all of our needs to the point where we just sit content under a bonsai tree neither eating nor participating in the lives of others, but that isn't what he had in mind when he said "I will provide for you." I believe that God uses our needs to guide us to where we are needed which allows others the blessing of providing for our needs.

So, to sum it all up, if you have issues in your life that you can't seem to conquer there is nothing wrong with going to see a Christian counselor. Sure, they are not Jesus but maybe they are the food that he has provided and you are just refusing to eat it.

The Long Winter

This has been a long winter. It's April 10 and we are still buried in snow with more on the way. It's also been a long spiritual winter I think; for me at least. Life hasn't exactly gone the way I wanted it to. There have been lots of adjustments, both good and bad, but not a whole lot of time to adjust or process what has all happened. When I look back I think I can say that I have had an abnormally hard season.

Getting married was good. Really good actually. People say that you should 'ease into' your marriage in the first year. Tori and I just kinda dove right in and hit the ground running. We had people over to our house almost every day at the start. Visitors, family, friends, no honeymoon. Then my wife went in for surgery to get rid of nasty gall-stone attacks that had been giving her incredible pain. The surgery was a success but people with EDS heal slowly so we knew that it would take a while to fully recover.

I got to make all the meals and clean the kitchen, bathroom, living room, everything. But she never did fully recover. Not entirely. You see, it shouldn't have been medically possible but we are now expecting a child, and Victoria managed to get every possible negative symptom of pregnancy. Then there were the week long modular courses in November and December, the two back to back almost killed her and the nasty falls on the ice didn't help much either. I knew going in that this was not going to be an ideal season for health and I was ready to stand up and do my part, but the season began to extend beyond what I foresaw and new storm clouds on the horizon made me prepare for some nasty slugging up ahead.

During Victoria's last class she didn't meet the professor's expectations. We got to argue that the expectations were unrealistic given the circumstances and that due care and attention to her needs was not given even when she asked for specific accommodation. This lead to a long appeal process and ultimately in my wife having to leave the school because dealing with them was simply too taxing on her health.

Then, as if by the hand of God (since I thought that surely things could not get any more difficult), we had a relational explosion and meltdown with some close friends that made Victoria afraid to be around people for a month

That has been the context of life since January. Health in the toilet, disappointments falling from the sky, the foundations seemingly cracking and shifting beneath our feet, and then there's me running around trying to fix everything.

I tried fixing the issue between Victoria and the school. That one is hard because I work for the school and I am Victoria's husband which makes being her advocate difficult to keep straight. I tried fixing the explosion in our friendship but I can't make it happen. I try to provide for what my wife needs but I'm still new to this whole 'live with a woman thing' and can't figure out what on earth to do when she's hormonal or when her EDS flares up. I've been called upon to lead House Church a midst the chaos that everyone else is going through normally during the school year at a time when the other House Church leaders can't be there. Now the school year is almost done and then everyone will be gone and still no sign of spring yet.

Yep... All in all it's been a long winter. I'm always tired and the fact that we're getting more snow doesn't even phase me anymore. I look forward to spring, to that light at the end of the tunnel. It's been tough, and looking back I'm amazed that we haven't blown apart or simply died by now. Somehow I don't think I've given into bitterness, and I think I've still found the strength to continue caring and hurting with others, not giving into numbness. Somehow I'm still working at redeeming what I maybe should have just let burn by now. The Lord truly does give us tireless grace to continue on.

I am tired. I love my wife. And I won't give up. Even in the long winter I must look to the Lord and allow him to lead me.

Greg Out

Talking about God the Son

How does one talk about God the Son? Who is he? Well, he is the God who became incarnate as a man in history, the man Jesus of Nazareth. This is why the Apostle's Creed states 'Conceived by the Holy Spirit, and 'Born of the virgin Mary.' He is identified as the Son of the Father. Not a son in the sense that he was the offspring of God but in the sense that he had a Father - Son relationship. Christianity has long held that the Son existed along with the Father in eternity passed and that there has never been a time when the Son did not exist alongside the Father. Afterall, the Father couldn't be the Father without the Son.

Why did God the Son incarnate himself? Well, Jesus' mission on earth was to announce the coming of the 'Kingdom of Heaven' which he accomplished through preaching, miracles, and signs; feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and fulfilling the Law according to Moses and the Prophets. What is this kingdom you ask? The rule of God breaking into the rule of man. The day of salvation where men may turn to God and he will be their God and they will be His people! All of the fulfillment and plans set forth by the Father are accomplished through the Son.

He is the very image (icon) of the Father. He is God incarnate, the divine becoming one of us while still being divine. Everything we can know about the Father and the Son is manifested in Jesus. He is God bridging the divide and revealing himself to us, giving himself to us. He reveals himself to be the God who gives himself.

He is the God who gave of himself even unto death. The incarnate God chose to die a criminal's death and became the sacrifice for sin so that all those who put their faith in him will have the blood of Christ, who did no wrong, as their defense before the holy judgement seat of God. Furthermore, the Son is the God who conquers death! After dying himself he was raised from the dead; not merely 'waking up', not as a zombie, and not having never actually died, but actually rising from the dead whole and completely, with a new body that could never die. He is the God who became what the Scriptures call 'The First Fruits' from among the dead, the 'template' if you will, for all those who put their faith in him, that we can hope, and have good reason to hope, in a bodily resurrection after death.

Furthermore still, he is the God who having descended to earth ascended back into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, with every power and authority under him to fulfill the will of the Father and mediates now between us and the Father so that we may be one with the Father as the Son is one with the Father.

Finally, he is the God who will come again and will finally be victorious over all things. The will of the Father will be completed because Jesus will return and the Kingdom of God will outshine and overcome the Kingdom of Man. He will bring to complete fruition the justice, hope, peace, and love that was promised so long ago when the Scriptures were written.

Greg's List of High Quality Free Games

I've been working on this one for a little while. Maybe somebody who's into gaming will stumble on to this post. Maybe.

I've been a PC gamer pretty much my whole life. I haven't played every title, but I have run across some really high quality free games that I think should get special mention. These aren't chintzy little arcade games made in Flash, these are top notch full length well made PC games with high replay value and hours upon hours of quality entertainment.

In no particular order we begin with:


Team Fortress 2

• Genre: First Person Shooter MMO
• Publisher: Valve, 2007
• Price: 100% Free
• Website: www.teamfortress.com

Team Fortress is, imho, the best FPS I have ever played. From the cartoony graphic style to the strategic and tactical depth of class builds, team composition, and the rewards for pure skill, this game is flat out awesome.

Don't let the whimsical graphic style fool you, this game delivers everything that a fantastic shooter should. The game is primarily online so you'll be trading kills with real people all over the world. You can play single player against bots if you like, but most players will quickly outgrow that and venture online where the real fun is to be had. As the title implies, their is an implicit emphasis on teamwork. Each round will have an objective like capture the briefcase, king of the hill, or assault / defend the base, all of which will require teamwork to complete. There are 9 different classes to choose from, each with a distinctive play style and weapon choices that are fulfilling to learn and master and compliment each other, once again playing into the need to work together as a team. Games are often very competitive, but almost always in a fun way where you can not wait to get back into the fray. Matches are often short but start up again in seconds. Since each team is constantly adding new players every time one of your mates decides he's had enough you never feel obligated to play for any length of time. Furthermore TF2 has something that most FPS never will; personality. Simply watch the 'Meet the Team' movies and you'll see what I mean. I have logged well over a hundred hours on this title. Everything about the game runs smoothly (unless you have a bad internet connection) and the combination of a graphic style that ages well and well honed, well developed game play makes this old game a timeless classic.

The business model for this game is completely 100% player friendly and free. Every class, every map, and every game-mode are available right from the start. Every weapon is unlockable by simply playing (random drops after games). Players can purchase weapons and upgrades for money, but this does not give them an advantage over players who don't put money down, it simply unlocks these items faster. Even the aesthetic items (hats) are available to players who play for free although they take a ridiculously long time to get without simply buying them.

All in all, a high quality and unique FPS with years of feedback and experience implemented to make it the best FPS it could possibly be and it's 100% free.

League of Legends

• Genre: Difficult to Identify (tactical team-based RPG MMO?)
• Publisher: Riot Games, 2009
• Price: 100% Free
• Website: www.leagueoflegends.com

League of Legends is currently the most popular MMO in the world. If you are into PC gaming and you haven't at least heard of LoL then something aint right. You choose from one of like a bazillion 'heroes' play as and then you are paired up with up to four other players to go compete against the enemy team in the "Fields of Justice" (a big arena with three lanes, jungle in between, and a river down the middle). You are only ever in control of your one character and you must use your character's abilities, the map's ambush points, and your team's assistance to try and kill the other team's heroes and wreck their towers. As you kill heroes and AI controlled 'minions' you will earn gold which you use to buy new items which increase you hero's stats / abilities, eventually becoming powerful enough to blow up their base. It's a fairly simple concept in theory, and the game is easy and fun to get into, but the longer you play the more you realize that the game has an incredible amount of depth. Each of the bazillion champions is unique and brings something special to the arena. Some are easy to learn and others very complicated. Different combinations of champions make the team play especially interesting. The game is unbalanced, but in a healthy way. No one champion or strategy is over powered because each champion and strategy are so different that whenever one champion or strategy becomes dominant it is only a matter of time before it is countered by a new one or a previously forgotten one. Regardless of champion or strategy though, this game really knows how to reward skill. The battles are fun and replayable over and over with other players or with bots. You are generally placed among team mates and opponents with a similar skill level to yourself, so this game is accessible to new players and hardcore competitive veterans alike.

The business model for this game is clever and 100% friendly to the player. Every champion and customization bonus (called runes) can be unlocked by simply playing the game and earning IP with each game. You could, in theory, unlock all of the characters and all of the upgrades by just playing. Even better though, League of Legends will alternate a set of champions that everyone gets to try out for free every two weeks or so, so that you can try out other champions without needing to gamble with your hard earned IP. You can also purchase 'Riot Points' with real cash and then use those RP to purchase heroes, upgrades, and 'skins'. Players who pay for game content with real money have no advantage over those who have earned their content by playing. The only thing that paying players have access to that non-paying players do not is purely aesthetic options, different costumes and 'skins' for your champions which have absolutely no bearing on game-play.

All in all, a fantastic, well crafted skill based and team focused game with infinite hours of potential fun and 100% free.

Dwarf Fortress

• Genre: Management / City Building
• Publisher: Bay 12 Games, 2006
• Price: 100% Free
• Website: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/

Dwarf Fortress.... oh Dwarf Fortress. Wow, how do I introduce this game? Perhaps with a disclaimer. This game is not for the casual gamer or the faint of heart. It uses old-school text based graphics and interface and is about as intuitive as driving a tank blindfolded... but oh Dwarf Fortress... how I love thee...

Dwarf Fortress is a purely unique experience. It has three 'game modes' but I'm only going to address 'Fortress Mode' where you are put in charge of a group of seven dwarves who embark to create a new home in the great and treacherously deadly world. You tell them what to build, which trees to chop down, what sort of food to eat, what sort of armor to wear (and the long arduous process of how to build said armor), and so on. The game is micro / macro management to the extreme. You are in charge of absolutely EVERYTHING for the dwarves under your care. The game looks and feels like ye olde textbased DOS game, but it is probably one of the largest and most complicated games ever created. The entire world, every single dwarf, every single event, every single goblin and weapon and barrel of ale is recorded for the entire game world... and the world builds itself for years before you even begin to play. Every time you embark you are already a part of an entire universe that has been put into motion. Each one of your dwarves has a full on personality and history that they remember and make mention of in the engravings and art objects you will need to make in order to trade for materials.

What do you do in Dwarf Fortress exactly? Well, you use the keyboard to designate what areas will be dug out and what trees will be chopped down. You designated which workshop will be placed where as well as which of the bazillion different types of goods and resources will be stored for easy and efficient use. You tell each workshop what to make and how many to make. You tell the dwarves how to wire their mechanical bridges and doors and traps to make truly innovative defense systems. You instruct them as to which places are safe to go under different levels of alert (which you must manually activate). And they go. You never have direct control over them though, only indirect suggestions of what needs doing and the dwarves with their individual AI sort themselves out to go and do those things.

The game has a learning curve like the Grand Canyon and many an expedition will die... horribly... and often. This title is really more of a simulation than a game. Your objective is to build a home for your dwarves and exist. It starts out easy at first. The dwarves find a peaceful little area to call home, so you dig out a spot where they can sleep at night and chop down some trees to make beds and barrels to store the food and ale which is produced from a farm. Then more dwarves migrate to your fledgling outpost and you decide to dig deeper so that everybody has a room and maybe venture out to the river to include fish on the menu. Then you set up a production line so that your craftsdwarves have easy access to rocks and jewels to create items for trade so that you can plant new types of crops or get better tools. Then more dwarves come and you're beginning to consider a metal smelting production chain and maybe some walls and drawbridges to keep the pastures and the overland crops safe from goblin raids... Before you know it you're managing the freaking Mines of Moria and after having delved too deeply and too greedily you're locked in a bloody battle with an army of goblins, demons, cave spiders, and some nameless elder beast monster thing forgotten since the creation of the world!

Thankfully there is an extensive wiki to tell you what the heck everything is and how it works. There is also a very helpful set of add-ons and tools (the Lazy Newb Pack) to make entry into Dwarf Fortress much easier and nicer on the eyes (it includes a graphics pack)

The attention to detail in Dwarf Fortress is simply astounding. Since the graphics are practically non-existent but your imagination begins to fill in the gaps. I once watched small letter 'c' move around the map chasing a glowing green '*' and so I paused the game to access the 'look' feature to tell me what these symbols represented. The 'c' was a cat that had a full on description and the '*' was a firefly. The cat was chasing the firefly... and had somehow managed to get outside even though I locked the doors. Even the cats have personality in Dwarf Fortress.

As already mentioned, this game is not for the faint of heart but there is no city builder or management game like it anywhere. The difficulty and the learning curve is part of the "fun". 

The business model is to pay what you would like as a donation if you liked it. It's a free download. The game is still in pre-Alpha, which means that more content will be added to an already full and well crafted 'experience'.

Lord of the Rings Online

• Genre: MMORPG
• Publisher: Turbine Inc, Midway Games, 2007
• Price: "Freemium" (friendly)
• Website: http://www.lotro.com/en

Basically World of Warcraft in Middle Earth with some tweaks to make it work well. You enter the world of Middle Earth as a level 1 warrior / champion / hunter / bard / burglar / rune master / etc and through questing and adventure you acquire new skills and abilities with which to go out into the world and continue to quest and adventure. It's the timeless WoW formula of MMO that we've all come to know and love and it's free... ish.

The business model is 'Freemium' where you can play for free but can only unlock premium content with 'Turbine Points'. Certain classes, Unlimited wallet space, mounts, larger inventory storage, Mid - High level instances, items, crafting recipes, and zones will require you to turn in Turbine Points to access them. You can purchase Turbine Points from the online store or you can earn Turbine Points by accomplishing various challenges and deeds scattered throughout Middle Earth. I don't know if you can earn enough Turbine Points to unlock all of the premium content, but I know that you earn enough to acquire a mount and gain larger access to the auction house fairly quickly.

For those who have read the books / seen the movies and have taken an interest in Tolkien's world this game is a treat. References and ruins of ancient kingdoms, iconic locations and people, and an awareness of canonicity have been woven into this world.

I haven't attempted the PvP portion of the game just yet...

All in all, a well and carefully crafted MMO with beautiful settings and smooth and balanced game play which might be 100% free if you are really dedicated to hunting down those Turbine Points.

Star Wars The Old Republic

• Genre: MMORPG
• Publisher: EA / BioWare, 2011
• Price: 'Freemium' (annoying)
• Website: http://www.swtor.com/

Basically the tried and true World of Warcraft formula except in the Star Wars Universe with a few notable tweaks to make it different. The game story picks up where BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic I and II left off (about a thousand years before the events of the prequel movies). You can play for either the Republic or the Empire as one of four classes, each of which morphs into one of two 'advanced classes' at level 10 (so 8 classes total). You go out questing and adventuring like your typical MMO but BioWare has added the element of narrative to the mix. Every quest is fully voice acted and you get to interact with NPCs through a variety of choices of dialogue which are also voice acted. The addition of narrative is fun and even compelling if you enjoy story-telling... which is Bio-Ware's strong suit... but if you don't care for such things then it's basically a less popular WoW.

The business model is an annoying implementation of 'Freemium'. Each of the classes and advanced classes are available and so is all of their story up to level 50 (the highest level) but instances, using the auction house, PvP, mounts, action bars, and nearly every item worth having requires Cartel Coins which are acquired by paying money for them online. Unlike Lord of the Rings Online, you can not acquire these Cartel Coins by simply playing the game, you must pay for them. This wouldn't be so bad if the game weren't designed to severely limit you early on and continuously show you what you COULD be getting if you bought a subscription. While I'm sure it is 'possible' to finish the main story-line up to level 50 I'm not sure how anyone could manage it with only 2 puny action bars and at least 3 dozen abilities that all need to be used. I got too frustrated to keep playing when they gave me options for quest rewards and 3 out of the 4 options were for subscription players only and they visibly penalized my XP for not having a subscription.

All in all, a good game... possibly even really good, but a really poor implementation of the Freemium system.

World of Tanks

• Genre: Strategic MMO
• Publisher: Wargaming.net, 2010
• Price: 'Freemium' (Professional)
• Website: http://worldoftanks.com/

World of Tanks is a unique game that finds a good balance between tank simulation and engaging competitive MMO game-play. In each game you pilot (?) a tank and together with your 14 team members work to destroy / outsmart the enemy team. Every match is 15 vs 15 and the game modes are capture the flag and attack / defend. The maps are well crafted and change often enough to offer a wide variety of strategic and tactical game-play.

You start out with a collection of humble WWII era Tier I tanks from the nations of Germany, Russia, USA, Britain, France, and China. You earn XP and silver coins depending on how well you do in each match with which to research and purchase upgrades for your tank as well as access new vehicles. There are different 'classes' of vehicle, each of which has its own strategic worth and different game-play; Light Tanks, Medium Tanks, Heavy Tanks, Tank Destroyers, and Artillery. Following the tech tree for each nation can be fun and working your way up into the higher tiers of vehicle brings out the nuances in each vehicle type even more. Once you blow up you are dead and can either continue as an observer or leave the match (which rarely takes longer than 10 minutes).

Special word needs to be given to the strategic game-play. In order to do well in this game you will find yourself imitating and possibly spending some time to research actual tactics that tank commanders used in WWII. Things like camouflage, spotting, elevation, and facing make a huge difference in how well you do in a match. Being aware of how your armor is slanted and how you face the enemy will increase the chance that shots will ricochet off of you and do no damage at all. Patience and skill is always rewarded whereas typical FPS run and gun tactics will most likely get you killed very quickly.

The business model is a well implemented type of 'Freemium'. In order to access the 'premium' content you need to purchase 'gold' (which is purchased with real money). Only certain tanks are considered 'premium' and can only be purchased with gold. These tanks are only marginally better than other tanks of that tier, which means that people who pay money get a small advantage but not enough to be frustrating to everyone else. Gold also allows you to purchase permanent paint jobs (as opposed to paint that falls off after a month if you purchase it with silver) and powerful 'gold rounds' of ammunition (which can also be purchased with silver for a hefty fee). Buying a subscription with gold will increase your XP and silver per game and allow you to create a platoon of up to three people to enter matches together. All other tanks (as well as forming a platoon of two) are available to the players who do not purchase gold. I say that this is a professional setup of the 'Freemium' system because it's not in your face and you can have tons of fun without it and don't feel limited or under-powered in any way. However, some of those premium tanks look pretty good and by the time you get to about tier VII the extra silver per match would be nice because it begins to cost lots of silver to repair your blown up tank and resupply your ammunition stores. It's not in your face but it's tempting.

All in all, a fantastic and unique game, very well designed, and a blast to play and, if you can withstand the temptation to purchase gold, 100% free!



Pirates of the Burning Sea

• Genre: Ship Simulation MMO
• Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment, 2008
• Price: 'Freemium'
• Website: http://www.burningsea.com/page/home

Pirates of the Burning Sea is the only naval simulation MMO available. You start in the Caribbean as a captain for one of the four nations (Britain, France, Spain, Pirates) and use your ship and sword-arm to quest about the Caribbean and make trouble for the other nations. The game-play is purely unique. For the ship to ship combat part of the game you are sailing your vessel and need to be conscious of wind direction, cannon range, reload times, and which part of you is facing the enemy when they are lining you up for a broadside. Ship battles kind of feel like slow motion chess where you need to constantly be thinking ahead to take advantage of the wind and position yourself to inflict maximum damage while at the same time staying out of your enemy's arc of fire. You start out by fighting NPCs either for a quest or out on the high seas, but a skirmish between players can have up to six players on either side pummeling each other with cannonballs. Port Battles feature up to fifty players on each side. Fighting alone is very different than fighting in a fleet. Fleet tactics, the type used in authentic ship battles from the 1600 - 1700's are essential to effective teamwork. Your ship only has so many 'durability points' (how many times you can sink before your ship is just gone) so be careful out there.

For the sword fighting portion of the game you, as captain, leap into the fray with your weapon of choice and together with your crew / allies hack and slash and shoot your way to victory. If you feel that you've weakened the enemy crew enough with grapeshot you can board their vessel and engage them in hand to hand.

In between these two game modes you'll either be walking around various ports or traveling in your ship in the big Caribbean map, taking advantage of the wind and sea currents, waving to passing players, and avoiding the 'red zones' (or prowling within them) which is where players can fight each other.

The leveling system is typical. Killing ships and completing quests gives you XP and coin. XP gets you levels which in turn allow you to unlock new abilities. The abilities and classes are varied enough to make the experience different over a number of characters. Ships are varied in their statistics and created for different types of game-play strategy. Ships can be upgraded with a variety of options that increase as you level up.

The game features a player run economy where every ship, every cannon ball, and every upgrade and consumable is crafted by the players and sold via the auction houses. (this is reminiscent of Eve Online's economy model) Players will be able to build plantations, mines, processing factories, shipyards and a host of other economic buildings to gain the resources required to make their own stuff and sell it to other players, but never enough to be self-sufficient. This encourages players to ban together into various 'societies' so that they can build the big ships by working together.

What further sets this game apart is the level of PvP interaction. Almost every port in the game can be captured by any of the four nations. Aggressive players begin by blockading a port and killing all the NPCs that sail to and from it. This will eventually create a 'red zone' around the port so that players can begin fighting other players and NPC fleets of warships begin to appear. As the level of disorder grows, so does the red zone. Economically minded players can smuggle in weapons and supplies for the rebels within the port to further increase disorder. Eventually, if the attackers are not driven away, ownership of the port is decided in a 50 vs 50 port battle where everybody brings out their best ships to fight. Once one of the four factions has earned enough conquest points, everybody from that faction gets a 'you win the map' award and the board resets.

The business model is another 'Freemium' but I purchased the game when it first came out so I haven't actually played with the Freemium restraints. I think you can play right to the end and access all of the ships and auction house options, but you are limited to two economic buildings (as opposed to 10) and only two characters.

* As tempting as it might be, don't make your first character as a pirate. This game is a simulation, and pirates had some serious disadvantages over against the other three nations.

Overall, a unique game with well polished ship simulation mechanics and engaging multiplayer elements (if you're into playing with other people in an MMO) and Free...ish.

Why does Everyone Call me Sir?

I was walking to work this morning when a gentleman from my church pulled up to ask me if I wanted a ride. I politely said "no thank you," and he said "Alright sir, have a good day," and I almost missed a step. I should have been calling this man 'sir' because he was my elder, not the other way around. Then I got to thinking; lots of people have called me sir, and it was becoming a little unnerving. My friends did back in dorm, but we often made a game of using unnecessary formality because it was 'classy.' I referred to my friend Josh as 'Dr. Knowles' and my other friend Kevin as 'Dr. Reid' and we always referred to the other as 'sir,' as if we were long time academic colleagues (probably inspired by a common love of C.S.Lewis). Some of my friends continued this past that year but I never thought much of it. But when people I don't know begin to call me 'sir' I can't think of it in the same way. I don't mind the formality I'm just unsure why people seem to think it necessary. It normally isn't an issue at all, but when my professors, my boss, my pastor, the registrar, dean, and president of the school I work for call me 'sir' almost unconsciously it becomes unnerving.

I don't think I radiate a presence that inspires that sort of respect or formality. I'm tall, maybe even good looking, but an often unshaven beard, a frustratingly unruly head of hair, and outdated glasses should reduce me to 'average Joe' status I would think. Is it the way I hold myself? Is it because I try to be polite and formal myself; looking people in the eye, listening, and respecting them in my speech and actions? If so, then my goodness, there is definitely something to be said for how one holds himself.

The problem is that I don't see myself as worthy of that level of respect, not from my elders, and certainly not from those who hold authority over me. Without a relationship that gives the formal 'sir' a context I'm not sure how to interpret it. Among peers it has been a classy display of friendship and comradery which I will share with them gratefully. I don't have a context for when someone I do not have a friendship with calls me 'sir' or when that person happens to be the people who I work for. Then I begin to wonder... was friendship and comradery all that my friends were trying to communicate... and I suddenly become a little frightened.

Who do people see me as; really? Who am I; really...

The Challenge of Writing about God

The challenge that any theology constantly runs into is how to communicate about God. He's kind of a large topic and human words are always ultimately inadequate for the task. I have been wracking my brain the past week trying to make a final draft of a video to introduce God the Father, and I find it quite difficult. I find it difficult because it is too easy to simply boil speech about God down to abstractions. Saying, God is loving, God is eternal, God is omnipotent, God is this, God is that, might be speaking 'accurately' but it becomes very cold and disconnected from who God actually is and what God actually does.

Throughout history God has made himself known to us by his actions and it is only in recounting these actions that we reason out what 'attributes' God must have and so we put names on Him, categorizing Him to fit into our modes of thinking. The human mind needs categories to understand what something is but often times these attributes and categories replace our speech of who God has revealed himself to be. I want to avoid this. I want to talk about what God has done, but I only have two minutes of video and recounting the entire history of Scripture (or of the universe) takes a little longer than that.

Then, of course, there's also the mode of speech to consider. Do I want to speak historically, philosophically, or relationally? Well, historically is long and boring, philosophically is abstract and often hard to understand, but relationally... I think this is how God has always communicated with us so I will speak relationally about God. What does it mean to speak relationally? It means going out to meet the other person and converse like friends, speaking almost casually, in a way that you know the other person will understand and not getting bogged down with absolute precision (historical or abstract).

But of course, I must be precise too! I must be 100% accurate in my speech about God even if it is speaking relationally. It is too easy to create a false metaphor or analogy. It is too easy to misconstrue the nature of God with idle speech. The key is being precise and speaking relationally.

I need to stay away from thick words that the average person wouldn't understand (like Transubstantiation for instance) as well as phrases that a non-Christian would be confused by (like 'being washed in the blood'). I need to somehow introduce my God, explain who He is, what He is like, in two minutes without falling back on just naming off his attributes. This is a worthy challenge if ever there was one.